Guntur Soekarnoputra

Early years

Guntur was born to Sukarno and Fatmawati on 3 November 1944 in Jakarta, Dutch East Indies.^[1] At the time, Sukarno was an established nationalist leader and the principal advisor to the Japanese occupation government.^[2] Previously, he had used the name "Guntur" (lit. 'thunder') as an alias when writing critically about the Dutch colonial government.^[3] The name Soekarnoputra, meanwhile, means 'son of Sukarno'.^[4]

Towards the end of the Second World War, Sukarno had made steps towards realizing Indonesian independence, as promised by the Japanese.^[2] To expedite this, on 16 August 1945 a group of pemuda (youths) abducted Sukarno alongside Fatmawati and Guntur in what became known as the Rengasdengklok Incident.^[5] The family were taken away in a black Fiat, which was forced to stop briefly near Bogor while Fatmawati breastfed Guntur.^[6] Upon reaching Rengasdengklok, as Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta were pressured to formally announce Indonesian independence,^[5] a crying Guntur—still not a year old—was passed between the adults.^[7]

The following day, Sukarno proclaimed Indonesian independence.^[5] Over the next four years, Sukarno led the country through the Indonesian National Revolution. The infant Guntur and his sister Megawati, born in 1947, were sheltered on several occasions. According to the curator Dullah [id], Sukarno entrusted Guntur to the artist Ernest Dezentjé after the Dutch began their First Police Action in 1947.^[8] In 1948, following the Second Police Action that resulted in the capture of Sukarno, Fatmawati and the children were entrusted to Bishop Albertus Soegijapranata at the Bintaran Church in Yogyakarta.^[9]

Childhood in Jakarta

On 27 December 1949, the Dutch formally recognized Indonesian independence.^[2] Sukarno and Fatmawati returned to Jakarta, where they had three more children: Rachmawati (b. 1950), Sukmawati (b. 1951), and Guruh (b. 1953).^[10] Two days after Guruh's birth, Sukarno asked Fatmawati permission to take his mistress, Hartini, as a second wife under Islamic law. Though reluctant, Fatmawati agreed.^[11]

Ultimately, Fatmawati left the palace in Jakarta in December 1955.^[12] Guntur went with her, while the other children remained with Sukarno. Guntur was critical of Sukarno's decision to take a second wife,^[13] even after Sukarno promised that Hartini would never replace Fatmawati as First Lady of Indonesia.^[14] When Sukarno continued take more wives, Guntur refused to deal with them.^[13] Speaking to Cindy Adams in the 1960s, Sukarno described Guntur as "a mother's child".^[15]

Nonetheless, Guntur retained a relationship with his father. He took up photography in 1956, when Sukarno gave him a camera as a reward for completing a year's schooling. He took to photography rapidly, capturing Sukarno's meetings with world leaders, family moments, and interactions with citizens.^[16] That year, he accompanied Sukarno during a state visit to the United States. During their tour, father and son attended Disneyland; their tour also included stops in Washington, D.C., and Detroit.^[17]

On 30 November 1957, Guntur and Megawati avoided an assassination attempt on Sukarno when he visited their school in Cikini. Having accompanied Sukarno during a school ceremony, they re-entered the building to watch a film while their father left through the front yard. Several hand grenades were thrown at Sukarno, and although he escaped without injury, the attack resulted in dozens of casualties. The children did not learn of Sukarno's escape until after his return home.^[13]

Guntur and Megawati attended a meeting of non-aligned states in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), in 1961, with Sukarno.^[18] In 1962, Guntur enrolled at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), taking the engineering programme as his father had. He was a student activist with the Indonesian National Student Movement,^[19] and joined the band Aneka Nada (lit. 'Varied Tones').^[20]

Transition period

In 1965, a failed coup attempt was undertaken by a group calling itself the 30 September Movement (Gerakan 30 September, or G30S). This attempt was blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), and suspected communists and communist sympathizers were hunted during a multi-year purge.^[21] In the aftermath, as Sukarno was overthrown by Suharto, Guntur left his university studies.^[22] Contemporary reports indicated that he had been expelled as a communist sympathiser,^[23] and he was reported later that year to have been arrested, though the latter was denied by the Indonesian military.^[24] Still angered by Sukarno's decision to marry Hartini, he was initially reluctant to visit his father during his house arrest.^[22] Over time, they reconciled.^[25]

In February 1970, Guntur married Henny Emilia Handayani, whom he had met when they were both students at ITB. As Sukarno was unable to attend, both due to his declining health and because the Suharto regime prohibited it, Guntur reached out to former vice-president Mohammad Hatta and asked him to be his wali (representative). Initially expecting to be refused, as Hatta and Sukarno had fallen out, Guntur was surprised when Hatta accepted.^[25] Guntur and Henny had one daughter, Puti Guntur Soekarno [id], born 1971.^[26]

Subsequent activities

After Sukarno's death in June 1970, Guntur was expected to continue his father's legacy in the political sphere. He physically resembled Sukarno and had expansive political knowledge, having regularly discussed contemporary political issues—including the Non-Aligned Movement and Indonesia's claims over West New Guinea—with Sukarno.^[27] In the 1971 legislative election, he was reported to be running as a candidate for his father's Indonesian National Party. Although the party desired Guntur as a candidate,^[19] and he delivered a speech supporting the party in May,^[28] he ultimately did not run.^[19]

Instead, Guntur focused on earning an income for his family. With two partners, he established the construction company PT Dela Rohita in 1973. By 1993, the company, headquartered in Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta, and with a branch in Bandung, had expanded into oil well drilling and geological surveys.^[19] In his spare time, he continued to play music, take photographs, and garden.^[29] In 1977, during a period of increased interest in Sukarno, Guntur published a memoir title Bung Karno, Bapakku, Kawanku, Guruku ('Bung Karno: My Father, My Friend, My Teacher').^[30]

Guntur held his first photography exhibition in November 1994.^[16] In March 1999, Tempo magazine reported that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle was considering Guntur for upcoming presidential election,^[31] though this did not occur. In 2006, he told Koran Tempo that practical politics was too tiring.^[32] Later that decade, Guntur's daughter Puti entered politics with a successful campaign to represent the West Java X constituency in the House of Representatives.^[26] Although he was initially against her involvement in politics,^[33] he ultimately endorsed her decision to contest the East Javan gubernatorial election in 2022. Due to his general avoidance of politics, the magazine Tempo likened it to "coming down the mountain".^[34] He has remained the only one of Sukarno's children with Fatmawati to mostly avoid practical politics.^[33]

Guntur endorsed Ganjar Pranowo in the general election over his niece, Puan Maharani.^[35] In 2024, Guntur urged the Indonesian government to repeal MPRS Decree No. XXXIII/MPRS/1967, which had been issued in 1967 to formally remove Sukarno from the presidency citing charges of treason and support for the PKI. The decree was repealed that year, which Guntur considered to rehabilitate Sukarno's reputation.^[36] In June 2025, Guntur exhibited 550 photographs he had taken at the National Gallery of Indonesia as part of a fundraiser commemorating the anniversary of Sukarno's birth. This exhibition featured portraits of former presidents Sukarno and Suharto, former vice-president Mohammad Hatta, former first lady Siti Hartinah, as well as individuals in their everyday activities.^[16]